Gotabhaya-led team responsible for killings, abductions in North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 January 2011, 00:15 GMT]An esoteric team of military intelligence led by Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is directly involved in the killings and abductions in the North, informed circles in Colombo said, citing a high-ranking military officer. The SL military in Jaffna is informed of any such operations of this team only when it is being carried out and it is instructed to provide only logistical support to those operations whenever required, the sources further said, adding that people who are targeted by this killer squad could hardly come back alive. The said squad reportedly maintains an operational unit in Vavuniyaa near the Oamanthai check post.

The recent abductions in Mannaar, the way the white van squad that abducted people was allowed to proceed by SL security personnel at the check post after being shown with a written document and the fact that some of the abducted were released at Colombo, showed the involvement of some top players in the whole operation.

In another recent abduction in Vanni, around 30 students were abducted just to identify and target one of them, and the identification operation, using a laptop, took place at Oamanthai, the sources in Colombo further said.

A few days ago, SL minister Douglas Devananda conceded in the parliament that any
elaboration by him on what is happening in the north would embarrass the government in Colombo.